GOLD RUSH! By: Carter, Gavin, Wyatt, and Luther

Definition of the gold rush: a rapid movement of people to a newly discovered goldfield. The first major gold rush, to California in 1848–49, was followed by others in the US, Australia (1851–53), South Africa (1884), and Canada (Klondike, 1897–98).

Why was Westward Expansion significant to the United States?

Because people heard about the gold that was found, so people moved westward to California to find gold, and become rich.

How did your event play a part in the expansion? What was its individual significance?

It got people to move west because they were convinced that that would find gold in California, and become rich.

The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. All told, the news of gold brought some 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad.